Beyond this, it really makes more sense to get into the API 500 series compatible racks and lunchboxes.

You can buy totally PRO mic pres, compressors,limiters, EQ's as components from a large growing assortment of vendors.
Each component generally runs $500-$1650 but these are the finest.

API, Brent Averill, Neve, Old School Audio, Purple and so on.
The empty racks with power supply run $450-$899 and are all inter- compatible.

This is the way I would go if I had and extra $1000 to play with.
This also looks like the direction the next generation of engineers will be going since they can literally take " their sound " with them to any studio.

After MUCH consideration,

I went with the DAV BG-1
I wanted 2 good high quality clean channels for vocals, mic'd instruments and keyboards.

This unit is rock solid and is ideal for studio or stage.

Mick at DAV was the lead designer/engineer for Decca Records for 28 years.

Considering the caliber of DAVelectronics' clientel,
I was greatly impressed with how well I was treated.
All my concerns were answered in a friendly, professional and timely manner.

It's no wonder that word of his product line is spreading so rapidly.

I hope what I have learned with help some of you with your decision.

My next priority is a great all purpose vocal mic
and a good 2 channel compressor.

Perhaps it might help others here if you could explain the primary difference between these outboard specialty preamps and those the average user might get in their typical A/D interface or their Mackie console.

BTW, I just caught the link to the new Apogee Ensemble, Maestro and the very cool Symphony PCI-Express card.

Perhaps it might help others here if you could explain the primary difference between these outboard specialty preamps and those the average user might get in their typical A/D interface or their Mackie console.

Click to expand...

well, each piece has to be judged on its own merits and its applicability in a certain application, of course. and within the user's budget.

that said, i believe that you more or less get what you pay for. when looking at, say, a $1280 mackie onyx 1640 vs. the $1450 2-channel brent averill 312a, it's useful to do a quick calculation on what might have been spent on each preamp.

for the BAE, figure $500/channel plus $500 for the housing and power supply.

for the onyx, if we figure $500 for the housing, power supply, monitoring section and converters, that leaves $780 for 16 channel strips, or under $50 per channel. even if half goes to the preamp, that's only $25. note, however, that this calculation ignores differences in volume pricing and labor costs (BAE is made in california, mackie in china).

regardless, that's one way of looking at it. i've not heard the onyx so i can't say whether the BAE pre is 20x better. plus it really depends on user needs, anyway. if i were recording a full band, i'd rather have the board than only 2 channels of BAE, for example.

otoh, if the goal is sonic performance, one would be right to be drawn towards the pricier pieces. imo, my BAE 312a kicks the living crap out of the pre's on my (now broken) mackie 1642.

lastly, one way to judge a preamp is to see how well, at mix time, it stacks up against other tracks recording with the same pre. this is where my mackie board utterly failed, and the FMR RNP shined. such a test helps reveal preamp deficiencies where a user's monitoring setup may otherwise cloud the picture.

I own the Sytek MPX 4aii (a 4-channel pre that retails for around $850)
and have recently heard some raves about the Hamptone (which comes in two varieties - tube an solid state - and is available in both kit for and pre-assembled and starts in teh mid $500s for the kits).
cf www.hamptone.com

as a professional audio engineer, i recently bought an API lunchbox with two mic-pres(512C), two EQ's (550A 3-band) and two compressors (525). www.apiaudio.com

this box is the best thing i have ever heard (next to an authentic neve). things recorded through the API stuff just "sits in the mix" better than any other pre-amp we own (we also have focusrite, neve and a few others). all the tonal quality and harmonics are all there. the EQ's are sweet and never sound harsh, no matter how much you boost or cut. and the compressors and absolutely sublime. really fast attack (15 microseconds!) but it doesnt sound compressed. still sounds natural and dynamic.

if i saved all the money i spent on POS gear in my time, i could have another lunchbox and maybe a u47 as well. if anyone here wants to get the "real deal" then API is it. you can still get them brand-new (like I did) rather than scour ebay for stuff that you dont know the history of. and beleive me, maintenance on vintage gear is a labor of love and lots and lots of cash.

If you can land some API or Neve stuff, you'll be amazed at the sound quality.

I just built a mic preamp that models a Neve pre...sounds pretty good.

However, when I'm doing a lot of drum tracking, I typically find myself going to my M-Audio Octane 8-channel ADAT preamp. It's about $600, but if you think you'll be doing more than 2 channels, it's definitely an option. I find it to be much cleaner than most of the other ADAT pre's on the market...like the Digimax LT and whatnot from Presonus.

The Octane, for all you engineering folk, has some nice options:

2 DI's on the first two channels
Pads on each channel
Phase reverse on every other channel
An M/S Matrix on channels 7-8.

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